Local authorities

Information

There are 29 County Councils in Ireland with a total of 753 members.

There is at least one Council for each county. Dublin county has 3 Councils including South Dublin County Council, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Fingal County Council. Tipperary county has 2 councils; North and South Tipperary.

The number of councillors that can be elected to each county council depends on the size of the county's population. For example, Cork County Council has 48 members and Carlow County Council has only 21.

The county council has jurisdiction or control throughout its administrative area. Within the county council administrative area there may be a borough or town council area. The county council may carry out the functions of the borough/town council within its area either jointly or separately with the borough/town councils.

As well as the county council, each county has a county manager. The county manager is the manager for each of the elected local authorities in the county.

There are 5 city councils. These include Cork City Council with 31 members, Dublin City Council with 52 members, Galway City Council with 15 members, Limerick City Council with 17 members and Waterford City Council with 15 members.

There are also 5 borough councils, including Clonmel, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Sligo, and Wexford and 75 town councils.

You can view a list of all local authorities.